


40 Weeks

by Alcyone



Category: The Royal Romance (Visual Novel)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 12:05:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17080040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alcyone/pseuds/Alcyone
Summary: No one said having a child was easy. The process to get one isn’t any easier.





	40 Weeks

“This is ridiculous.”

Drake pushed the papers across the polished, mahogany desk at Liam. Liam picked them up and straightened them out.

“It’s standard procedure.”

Drake was still offended. 

“We don’t need that. Brooks won’t try anything.” 

“I know.” Liam had the long-suffering calm of someone who knew he had to be the level-headed one in the situation. “But in this matter, the lawyers are insisting.”

“I still think it’s unnecessary,” Drake continued grumbling. The corner of Liam’s mouth rose.

“Your objection is noted.” Liam took Drake’s hand and thumbed his knuckles in reassuring gesture. “So? Shall we call her in?”

Offended as he remained on her behalf (Brooks wasn’t going to try to extort them for money, and she certainly wasn’t going to bail on the agreement; she was better than that), Drake couldn’t stop himself grinning. Especially when he saw the expression mirrored on Liam’s handsome face.

He had found it hard to stop smiling since the decision was made.

Hardly twenty minutes had passed before Riley and one of the lawyers were present before them. She took a seat across from Liam and Drake. The lawyer hovered nearby. Drake crossed his arms where he stood next to Liam. Riley looked from one to the other with amusement.

“Am I getting fired?”

“No, you’re fine,” Liam answered her with a smile. “Drake would just like it noted that he thinks these proceedings absurd.” 

“They are,” he interjected. 

Riley was still trying to bite back a laugh as Liam presented her with the documents. He began discussing it with her before she cut him off with a shake of her head.

“I know what I’m getting myself into.” She sat on the edge of her seat, her hands clasped before her. “Everything we decided, it’s in here?”

The lawyer cleared his throat. “It is. As for the matter of compensation—”

“Hold up.” She held up a hand. “Let me stop you right there. I’m not _selling_ anything. So I don’t need to get paid.”

“Yes, but His Majesty—” The lawyer again tried to speak and again Riley cut him off. Drake smirked.

“I told you I don’t want payment.” She was pinning Liam now with a stare. “We agreed.”

“We did,” he said placatingly. “But I do wish you would reconsider. We’re asking you to put yourself through tremendous stress for _months_. Your compensation should be equal to that.”

“If you want to compensate me, buy me a bottle of wine when all this is over. That was a joke,” she hurriedly added, looking to the lawyer. “Don’t write that down.”

Facing forward, she spoke to Liam but her eyes flicked between him and Drake so that it became meant for both. 

“I’m not stupid. I know it won’t be a walk in the park, but I offered to do it anyway. I’m not doing this for any compensation or special favors. I’m doing this for you. I _want_ to. I love you guys.”

Drake laid a hand on Liam’s shoulder. Without looking, Liam’s hand found him. He could feel his husband’s immense gratitude, one that matched the emotion swelling in his chest, before Liam spoke.

“Thank you,” he said and his voice was tight with emotion.

Not trusting himself to speak, Drake gave Riley a nod.

“All right,” said Riley a few minutes later once she had finished signing her name. She leaned back in her chair with a smile. “Let’s get me pregnant.”

* * *

It began about a month before while they lay in bed together. Regina had cornered Drake earlier to question him about heirs. He had only just managed to extract himself from the interrogation with all his limbs intact. 

His mother-in-law (and wasn’t _that_ still a hell of a mindfuck) had not expressed anything but support in public nor was she ever anything but polite if reserved to him. Even so, Drake knew she had her doubts regarding his relationship with her stepson. 

Despite his irritation with her when she felt the need to offer her opinion on his and Liam’s relationship, he had to admit she had a point. 

With Liam’s head pillowed on Drake’s abdomen, they broached the subject. _We should at least talk about it even if we don’t start planning yet_ was the overarching theme.

At one point, Liam propped himself up on his elbow.

“We could…use Riley.” At Drake’s look, Liam clarified, “I’m not just volunteering her. She offered to be our surrogate.”

“So we’d have a half-Riley baby?” Drake pictured himself chasing after a little terror in a hat. 

“No. She would just carry the baby. We’d need to find a donor, but we can use an egg bank for that. Less of a legal tangle.”

“And you’d be the dad,” Drake brought up the obvious.

“We would both be the dad,” Liam corrected him. “Regardless of who is the biological parent, we’re both the fathers. And for the record,” his fingers came to trace a line over Drake’s cheek, “I don’t care if our child is half you or half me. It will still be _ours_.”

Drake pulled Liam closer in a kiss. As Liam’s warm weight settled comfortably over him, Drake broke the kiss long enough to say, “Let’s have a baby.”

Liam’s eyes shone. “Really?”

Drake had always thought of children in the abstract: eventually, in the future, after he got married, settled down. All of a sudden, the image was concrete. He wanted one that looked like Liam, another that looked like him. 

A week later, they formally asked Riley (“Wow, you guys took longer than expected. I mean, _yes_ , of course, I’ll do it!”) Roughly a month after that, they had the surrogacy contract in place. Almost too quickly to believe, Riley began the hormone treatment and they had their embryos. Two were to be implanted in Riley first. The other three would be frozen, possible siblings, for a subsequent pregnancy. 

And thus Drake’s anxiety shot to the roof.

* * *

Trying to keep the process as secret as possible—to protect Riley and safeguard their privacy for as long as possible—the implantation took place in Valtoria. When Drake and Liam traveled there under guise of a routine visit, they found Riley upside down on the couch, her head hanging off the cushion and her legs resting over the back.

Liam immediately rushed to her. Drake stopped in his tracks.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Using gravity to help them settle,” she answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“How exactly does this help them settle?”

“ _I_ don’t know, but there’s nothing for me _to_ do now except wait, and it’s only been like four hours and I’m going crazy!”

Swinging her feet off the back of the couch, she struggled to a sitting position. Liam helped her. As soon as she was upright, she clutched her head. 

“Whoa. Head rush.”

“How are you feeling?” Liam asked her.

“Eh.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t feel anything yet. I might get cramps or some spotting—”

She broke off, narrowing her eyes at Drake who was still by the door.

“Hey. Stop making faces. I could be pregnant with _your_ twins.”

Liam touched her hand.

“How soon did the doctor say you could take a pregnancy test?”

“After two weeks,” she sighed. “I’m not sure how I’ll make it the two weeks. I want to take one _now_ and they’re not even mine.”

Liam smiled. “I’ll make certain your struggle is acknowledged.”

Riley shoved his shoulder.

“Hey, you got here!” 

Maxwell slid through the door holding a tall glass, which he handed to Riley. She stared at the green concoction inside it with a worried face. 

“What is this?

“Folic acid in a glass! Not too early to make sure the little guys get everything they need. I wasn’t sure what the right ratio of broccoli to lentils should be so I made different batches for you to try!”

Riley was still peering doubtfully down the glass. “Did you add toast to this?”

“And milk! Fiber for you, calcium for them.”

Drake threw his hands in the air. “Jesus, Maxwell, we’re trying _not_ to kill her!”

While they argued, Riley passed the glass to Liam who discreetly made it disappear.

* * *

Drake had no idea how long two weeks really were. 

There was plenty to keep them busy. The country’s problems didn’t stop so every morning Liam took over one of Riley’s state rooms to receive his daily briefing. With court briefly settled in Valtoria, he and Liam—mostly Liam—took the opportunity to meet with minor nobles and the gentry. On their free days, they took to wandering the grounds either on foot or on horseback with the duchess’ blessing. Liam laughed when they came across the paintball arena still under construction. 

“They’ve lost their minds,” Drake said.

“If Riley and Maxwell hear you, you won’t be invited when it opens,” Liam reminded him.

Drake kept further comment to himself.

Maxwell surprised him. One morning, Drake stumbled blearily into the kitchen desperately seeking coffee to find Maxwell in the midst of a small chaos. He was leading the kitchen staff in scouring every bottle, every piece of meat, every vegetable. 

“Morning!” Maxwell greeted him.

Drake stared.

“Was there an outbreak of _E. coli?”_

“I’m trying a new diet,” he said as he came over. Dropping his voice, he explained, “It’s for the babies. I’m getting rid of anything that’s bad for them. We’ll cook it up as extra for the festival, and after we’ll have a safe kitchen for them. I already put in an order for more fruits and vegetables, whole grains and plenty of dairy. Pasteurized, of course.” 

When Drake caught Riley later that day, she smiled when he told her the story.

“Yeah,” she said with a fond look where Maxwell was animatedly telling Liam and Hana about the plans for the festival. “He’s been my main support in all this. I can’t imagine doing this without him. I’d still have done it,” she promised him, “but I’d be a lot more of a nervous wreck without Maxwell.”

“You and Maxwell,” Drake began, “you think you’ll…?”

“What? Have a kid?” 

At his nod, her hands folded over her still flat stomach.

“No,” she stated. “We’ve talked about it. Again, when I told him I was thinking of offering to be your surrogate. Kids have never been in either of our plans. You and Bertrand can handle the diapers and the nightly feedings.”

Drake made a face. 

Even after so long, he still had to control the urge to punch his sister’s husband whenever he saw Bertrand.

At the end of the first week, Riley hosted a festival in their honor open to everyone. Past midnight, the Valtorians were still celebrating, their duchess in their midst, a glass of non-alcoholic sparkling cider in hand. When he caught her eye, she had winked at him.

Even with the distractions, however, the days crawled by. There was a gnawing pit of anxiety ever growing in Drake’s stomach as the day got closer and closer. He wasn’t the only one. While he grew more short-tempered, Liam became more distant, Riley cracked more and more terrible jokes and even Maxwell took to stress-eating when he wasn’t pushing Riley to eat some new grain or yogurt.

At a glacier’s crawl, the days still passed. And suddenly, the day was upon them.

Biting his thumb, Drake watched as the slender tube filled with Riley’s blood. It was capped and sealed. _The results will be ready in a few hours,_ they were promised.

“Ugh.” Riley buried her face in a pillow while Hana patted her back. “Why can’t I just pee on a stick and know _now_?”

“Actually…” Everyone’s heads turned to Maxwell who shifted his weight on his feet. “Hana and I thought you guys might want to know sooner.”

“I stopped in the pharmacy for a pregnancy test. I also bought candy bars for everyone!” Hana stated proudly.

“Seriously?” 

Riley sat up. She turned her head to find Drake and Liam. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth.

“What do you guys think?”

“What do we think?” 

Liam’s eyes were a little wide when he looked at Drake as if he’d be of any help. It was taking everything in him not to shout _Take it! Take it! Take it!_

“We’ve waited two weeks,” he said instead.

Liam nodded. “And the beta will be far more reliable.”

A long silence followed.

“So…” Riley interpreted, “I should take it?”

“Yes, please.” Liam sagged in relief.

Hana fetched the box and Riley headed to the bathroom. At the door, she paused.

“Okay. Just…remember. It’s not 100% reliable,” she said nervously. “We shouldn’t get excited until the other test comes back.”

“We won’t,” Drake promised.

Riley gave a tight nod, looking like she was about to face the firing squad. As soon as the door was closed behind her, Maxwell turned to him.

“You lied.”

“Obviously,” he snapped. “But I’m not about to stress her out more. She could be pregnant with my kid!”

He felt a gentle nudge at his side.

“Our kid,” Liam corrected with amusement. The combination of the words with the smile Drake loved so much only made the butterflies in his stomach worse.

“Ours. Yes. You know what I mean.”

Hana smiled at them.

“I’m so happy for you both. You’ll make wonderful parents.”

“Thank you, Hana.”

Though Liam had wiped from his face all expression of nervousness, Drake felt the tension in their joined hands.

“So what are you naming them?” Maxwell interjected. “Do you know if they’re boys? Girls? One of each?”

“The RE knows,” Liam answered him. “We chose not to.”

“Ah, looking to be surprised.” Maxwell nodded solemnly. “I’ll get the lists of baby names with focus on ones that work for each. Alex. Rowan.”

“Stop,” Drake told him.

The door abruptly opened. Riley stepped out, eyes on the stick in her hand.

“That was fast.” Drake blinked in surprise. 

“Is something wrong?” Liam asked at the same time that Hana queried, “Did I bring the wrong test?”

Riley lifted her head.

“I’m pregnant.” Silence followed her declaration. After a second, a laugh bubbled through her shock. “I’m pregnant.”

The repetition broke the spell. Maxwell whooped loudly. Hana clapped her hands before her, eyes filling with tears. Liam reached Riley first, pulling her into a tight hug. Drake was immediately behind him.

“Get in here!” Riley laughed, pulling him into a group hug. Maxwell and Hana jumped in too.

A few hours later, the results of the blood test corroborated what they already knew.

“We’re having a baby,” Drake finally said out loud. “We’re going to be parents.”

Liam raised Drake’s hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. His eyes were shining.

“I know.”

Drake grabbed him around the nape, bringing their heads together. He could not stop laughing.

* * *

Returning to the capital was harder than they might have expected. Riley promised to keep them informed of every development. Maxwell stole Drake’s phone to show him how to place video calls. Even with the reassurances (and after chasing Maxwell to get his phone back), returning felt like they were leaving something important behind.

In the palace, they broke the good news to Regina.

“My congratulations to you both. I, and all of Cordonia, will rest easier knowing we will soon have a new heir,” she said formally, yet a pleased smile broke through. 

She reached out to clasp Liam’s hand. “I may not be your mother, Liam, but it has been my great honor to watch you grow over the years. You’ll make a wonderful father. You both will.”

“Thank you, Regina.” Liam smiled warmly at her.

Drake knew damn well he was the afterthought, but she was also the Queen Mother, so he nodded to her.

More practically, Regina asked, “Have you decided when to make the announcement?”

“After the twelve weeks, ma’am,” Drake answered her. “We wanted to keep it to ourselves and family.”

She nodded. “It’s best. The second trimester is more certain.”

Regina hesitated a long moment. Her expression softened.

“Your father would have been overjoyed,” she told Liam. “He missed the sound of a baby in the palace.”

Liam smiled at his stepmother. “He’s still with us. Of that, I’m sure.”

Drake called Savannah that night to let her know, and had to pull his phone away from his ear at her delighted squeal.

“When’s the due date?”

“End of August.” The date seemed both impossibly far away and uncomfortably close. 

“It’s about time,” Savannah was saying. “I’ve been waiting for Bartie’s first cousin, but I thought it would be Maxwell and Riley’s.”

“Yeah, well…”

“Though I guess, in a way, it is.”

Drake fumbled with the phone. “What are you talking about?”

“Your surrogate?” Savannah said as if it were obvious. “It’s Riley, isn’t it?” 

“Who told you that?”

He could almost hear his sister’s eye roll.

“Neither you or Liam would pick someone you don’t know and trust. And you, brother of mine, only have two women that would meet that standard and you didn’t ask me.”

“God, you’re a pain in the ass.”

“Love you too,” she said, her smile audible in her voice.

Before there could be any public announcement, though, they had to see their children for the first time. With Riley still in Valtoria and Drake and Liam trapped in the capital, they were present at the first ultrasound through a video call.

Maxwell spent a good ten minutes wandering the doctor’s office trying to find the perfect spot to set the phone down. Liam’s hand idly massaging the back of his neck was the only reason Drake didn’t yell at him. From the examination table, Riley waved.

Everyone fell silent as the doctor performed the ultrasound. For a moment, Drake had no idea what he was looking at. Then, he found the rapid flickering just off-center.

“Oh, my God.”

He wasn’t sure who said it. Maybe he did, maybe Riley. Drake’s hand found Liam’s. On the screen, Riley had similarly grabbed Maxwell. She was beaming.

“Are you guys seeing this?”

“We are,” Liam assured her.

“I’m seeing _something_ ,” Drake corrected, which prompted a roughly five minute attempt to get him to see the embryo.

He eventually took them at their word. The big lump looked absolutely nothing like a head to him.

Turning back to the computer screen, Liam asked, “And the other baby?”

The doctor glanced again at the screen, but her answer was written on her face before she spoke.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. There is only one heartbeat.”

Riley started in surprise. Her hands twitched as if to touch her stomach. Maxwell looked away.

Drake turned to Liam. He was leaning back in his seat, his expression perfectly neutral. 

“I see.”

When Drake touched Liam’s arm, Liam gently moved it out from under him.

Riley called immediately after they had ended the video. “I’m so sorry.”

Drake passed a hand over his face.

“No one’s blaming you, Brooks,” he said. 

They had known there was a good chance the procedure could fail. That was why she had been implanted with two. To improve their odds of getting one baby at the end.

“I know,” she said with a sigh. “But I’m still sorry.” 

After cancelling both their itineraries for the day, Drake sought out Liam. He found Liam in their bedroom. He held the compass in his hand.

“Remember when you gave this to me?” Liam lifted his head with a smile. “I don’t think I understood the concept of ‘deer in headlights’ until I saw the look on your face.”

“Yeah, yeah, Drake is an idiot.” He sat on the bed next to Liam. “I still can’t believe that stupid line worked.”

“Oh, it was a line, was it?”

“Okay, it wasn’t a _line_ …”

Liam pushed the arrow’s tail with his thumb until the head pointed at Drake.

“Look at that smile,” Liam teased. 

Drake could feel it stretching his cheeks, but he also couldn’t do anything about it. Liam chuckled. Lifting his thumb, the arrow spun. His expression slowly fell. Remembering his earlier rejection, Drake hesitated to touch him. He bit the inside of his cheek. 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Liam let out a heavy sigh.

“I don’t know what to talk about. I’m…ecstatic. That we’re pregnant and the baby is developing. Then there’s a part that doesn’t know how to feel. I don’t even know if I’m actually mourning it or just the idea of it.”

Drake looked at the wall.

“I don’t think you have to pick. You can be sad about both. Just like you don’t have to pick what you should be feeling. You can grieve for the one and still be happy about the other.”

Liam nodded. “Yeah.”

“And you can be scared shitless too about all of this because God knows I am.”

 _That_ earned him a laugh. Drake laughed too until he saw the way Liam was looking at him. There were moments, no matter how often they were, when Liam regarded him with so much warmth, with this perfect, quiet joy that always took Drake’s breath away. 

Liam laced their fingers together.

“When did you get to be so wise?”

“I have to try to keep up with my husband somehow. Did you know he’s a real king?” 

Liam chuckled and leaned in. The kiss was fortifying somehow. Not passionate, yet Drake felt his heart pounding harder for it. When they separated, Liam caught Drake’s face between his hands.

“I love you,” he said.

“Not as much as I love you.”

“Impossible.” Liam smiled.

“Keep thinking that, _Your Highness_.” Drake smirked. “I have a lifetime to prove how very wrong you are.”

* * *

At week fifteen, Liam made the official announcement. The gossip mill churned with who the potential surrogate could be. Despite Liam and Drake both refusing to entertain any questions regarding her identity, a few correctly guessed anyway.

“What did you expect when you only have two female friends?” Riley commented archly several weeks later when she and Maxwell made the trip from Valtoria to Ramsford for Bartie’s birthday.

Remembering Savannah’s similar observation, Drake took the mature route and and flipped her off.

Riley had slipped into her second trimester in better spirits than she had spent her first. She had an appetite to rival any Beaumont’s, more energy than Drake had ever seen from her, and looked aglow from within.

When in public, she still wore clothes designed to disguise her bump, but, in the privacy of the Beaumont estate, she cheerfully pulled up her blouse so that Drake and Liam could see it.

“If not for this stupid dizziness, this is the best I’ve ever been.”

Liam, his hands resting gently on the roundness of her belly, looked up. Drake had poked her stomach once and felt it weird: not unlike a balloon filled with water. He had made the mistake of voicing his observation out loud and Riley had fixed him with a searing look.

“What do you think the baby’s surrounded by? Packing peanuts?”

The pregnancy was also making her a smidge more temperamental.

“Dizziness?” asked Liam.

“Mm. And the occasional headache.” Correctly interpreting the reasoning behind his question, she continued, “I already talked to my doctor about it. He said it’s normal. I did have to switch from Advil, which _sucks_. Tylenol does nothing.”

Bartie chose that moment to charge into the room. 

His nephew had been growing like a weed. Small and compact, happy to talk anyone’s ear off, and just as likely to toss his fork as use it.

Bertrand liked to blame Bartie’s uncles. Savannah was quick to defend them by pointing out that Bartie was only three. Behind Bertrand’s back, Drake and Maxwell continued to let Bartie run wild.

When Bartie saw him, he launched himself into Drake’s arms with a laugh. Drake lifted him into the air.

“Hey, bud! Where’s your old man?”

Bertrand showed up a second later.

“Barthelemy Beaumont, what have I told you about running like— Oh, Your Majesty! Your Highness! I hope the trip was pleasant.”

Behind Bertrand’s back, Riley mimed along with his greeting. Drake hid his snickering behind Bartie. 

The party was a largely intimate affair featuring mostly family and a few friends. Savannah let Bartie open one present early, which turned out to be a mess of Play-Doh tubs and cutouts. Bartie shrieked with delight, Bertrand bemoaned the mess, and Maxwell and Riley high-fived each other. When Drake returned after fetching himself another drink, he found Liam on the floor, patiently molding Play-Doh into animal shapes with Bartie. 

It wasn’t hard to imagine this scene only with their child instead. Drake’s heart swelled.

After joining his husband and nephew for a while, Drake took to wandering. He found Riley and Savannah chatting. 

“I remember with Bartie I felt like a beached whale,” Savannah was saying.

“I am not looking forward to getting bigger,” Riley told her. “All the weight I’ve put on thus far has gone to three places: my stomach, my ankles, and my boobs.”

“Oh, my God.”

He turned around to leave, but Riley’s voice pulled him back.

“‘Oh, my God,’ what?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly. “I said nothing. I’m leaving.”

Riley’s eyes narrowed.

“Seriously, Drake, is this because I mentioned boobs? What do you plan on doing when your daughter’s a preteen and has to get fitted for her first bra?”

They could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed.

“What?” Liam walked into the room behind Drake. His expression was as shell-shocked as everyone else’s.

Riley looked stricken.

“Oh, shit.” She clapped her hands over her face. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! This pregnancy brain is going to kill me, I know it.”

Drake was still staring at her.

“I’m going to have a daughter?” At her little nod, Drake gave a short laugh. “We’re having a girl?”

He sought out Liam as if for confirmation. Liam looked just as awed as Drake felt.

“Riley? Are we—”

Riley finally brought her hands down. “The doctor asked if I wanted to know and I said yes and she’s a girl.”

It was suddenly chaos. Drake seized Riley in a hug before Liam grabbed her too. Savannah burst into happy tears that she was going to have a niece. Maxwell, who had obviously known, slung an arm around Drake’s shoulders. Even Bertrand was smiling and calling for the servants to bring out champagne to make a toast.

“To our future princess!” he said as soon as everyone had their glass. (Bartie held up a cup of juice in imitation of his parents.) 

As soon as the toasts were finished, Maxwell drained his glass, then Riley’s. While he called for double the party, Drake felt a tug on his arm. He followed Liam partly aside. 

“A daughter” was all he said, eyes shining.

“We’re having a girl.” Drake grinned to himself until his eyes landed again on Maxwell. “I’m gonna kill him. The son of a bitch knew and kept it secret. _Again_.”

Liam only laughed.

* * *

The next months passed in a blur of planning and preparation.

To his surprise, Drake turned out to have a lot of opinions on baby things ranging from the changing table (“We can’t put her there. It looks like it’s about to tip over.”) to the baby carrier (“Yeah, no, it’s fine if we want her to suffocate.”)

The one thing he didn’t fight about was the crib. It had been Liam’s before; his mother had designed it. She had had a good eye. It was made of a gleaming, lovely pale wood and featured a beautifully intricate carving of a lion and its cub. 

Liam only looked at him and Drake nodded.

“That’s her crib.”

Rather than refurbish the old nursery, Liam insisted on fixing up one of the adjoining rooms to the royal chamber. 

“I want her nearby,” he explained. “I want to do the nightly feedings. I want to change the diapers. I want to be her father.”

When they began discussing names, Drake was not surprised to learn Liam had written out lists already. They spent several evenings debating Julias, Rebeccas, and Emilys, but nothing seemed to fit.

Or as Drake had put it, “There’s not a single name that’s good enough.”

In addition to the lack of decent names, they still had the normal problems of running a small nation. Even so, when they were in public, they were more likely to field questions about the baby than anything else. The press scrambled for any and every detail. Despite never publicly stating that Riley was their surrogate, it seemed like the entire country knew. Riley still had her personal security, but Liam assigned to her several members of the King’s Guard. 

“Better safe,” he reminded her and she finally acquiesced to it to the extra protection.

As the third trimester began to loom ahead of them, their excitement and anxiety rose hand in hand. The process of having a child was stressful enough. Having a child through surrogacy and in the public eye was on another level. 

One night, Drake caught Liam in the almost complete nursery. He stood by the crib. They had settled on a sky blue color for the bedding with a delicate white lace trim. The blanket draped over the side bore Cordonia’s crest. Liam’s fingers traced over the intricate stitching before drifting to the lions carved into the wood. His expression was bittersweet.

Drake carefully retreated so as not to disturb him.

Regina had become a pillar of support in the past few months and her eyes had filled with tears when Liam told her she would have a granddaughter. But there were moments when the person whose advice one wanted most was the one who wasn’t there.

Drake’s own mother was excited to be a grandmother and had promised to fly back to Cordonia closer to the due date. But it was his father Drake most wanted to talk to. To ask him how he had felt before Drake and Savannah had been born. If he had ever felt this uncertain. This afraid of not being a good parent.

To cope with his anxiety, Drake took to calling his sister almost nightly to ask her questions about babies and parenthood. Savannah tolerated him with good humor. More than once, she drove up to the palace to spend the day with him and it was like years fell away. Once again, they were two common teenagers given leave of the palace.

With his turning to his sister for sanity, it should not have surprised him to learn Liam had done the same with his brother.

He slipped into Liam’s office one afternoon to find Liam ending a call.

“Who was that?”

“Leo. He sends his congratulations.”

“Don’t want them.”

“Drake…” said Liam in the long-suffering tone of someone who had been down this road several times before.

“I’m just saying,” Drake pointed out as he had in the past, “the guy up and left everything and everyone and left _you_ to clean up his messes. And for what? Now he comes back every once in a while when he remembers we still exist, stays for two hours, drinks our best stuff, then fucks off again.”

Getting up, Liam came around the desk.

“I know that you don’t agree with what he did…”

“Hell, no, I don’t. He _left_ you. His brother.”

Liam smiled. “And you never would.”

He held out his hands for Drake.

“I understand that you disagree with his actions,” he said after he was holding Drake’s hands. Liam’s thumbs caressed his knuckles. “You’ll find quite a few people who still agree with you. But please try to understand that he is my brother and he will be our child’s uncle. Please,” he added at Drake’s scoff.

“What he did was years ago, and it was his choice to make. Yes, it was difficult, but ultimately…I don’t regret it.”

Drake smirked. “You don’t regret that he left?”

Liam narrowed his eyes playfully. “I didn’t say that.”

“You thought it.”

“Drake.”

Drake groaned. “I will be on my best behavior when he comes. But _I_ will be holding Sarah as long as he’s here.”

“Sarah?”

“Took a chance. Hate it. Take it off the list.”

* * *

Riley’s second trimester had been so easy no one expected the third to be any different.

Hana was fixing a thick, warm blanket over Riley when they entered the hospital room. Maxwell was on the phone, talking with what sounded like Bertrand. Riley lay against the pillows, her hands folded above her swollen stomach. Her eyes were closed, but she opened them when she heard Drake and Liam’s approach.

“I look worse than I feel, I promise,” she joked.

“You look fine. Not a day over five months.” Liam followed her lead.

“Aren’t you sweet?” she said. “You’re lying. But you’re sweet.”

Liam and Drake took over the chairs by the bed.

“What happened?” asked Liam.

“She said she had a headache and was going to go lie down. But it just got worse,” Hana explained. She had taken a seat on the couch with Maxwell who had just hung up. 

“I called her doctor,” he continued the story, “and he said to bring her here. After that I called you guys, and you know the rest.”

“Do they know yet what it is?”

“Preeclampsia,” answered Riley. “Which is why I have this.”

She pointed at the blood pressure cuff wrapped around her arm. Drake had not noticed it before.

“My headache still hasn’t gone away so I get to wear this thing. The baby’s fine,” she was quick to assure them. “They did an ultrasound.… Maxwell, where did you put the picture?”

“Got it!” Maxwell handed Drake a sonogram roughly the size of a polaroid. Liam leaned toward him to see.

There was no way to miss the baby in this one. Her head was perfectly formed. Drake could see her nose, her mouth, the shape of an ear, the place where her eyes were. Her spine was fully formed, the individual vertebrae visible. She was curled up and—

“What is she doing?” Drake raised his head. 

“She’s sucking her big toe.”

“ _Why?_ ”

“Because it’s more refined than sucking her thumb,” suggested Hana. 

It was just absurd enough to cut through the stress. They all broke into relieved laughter.

“So, how long are they keeping you, Brooks?”

Liam took Riley's hand, taking care with her IV.

“A few days,” she said. “They want to keep me in observation. Doctor said there’s no need to induce me yet, which is all I cared to hear. If I can’t make it full term, thirty-five is my bare minimum. Write that down.”

After settling into Riley’s duchy for the night (Hana had returned with them; Maxwell had stayed), Liam began obsessively reviewing the condition. Over his shoulder, Drake read the possible risk factors. Two stood out: first pregnancy and in vitro fertilization. Both true for Riley. 

“Don’t start blaming yourself,” Drake interrupted him. 

He knew how Liam’s brain worked. The baby could have been holding up a sign in-utero going “Not your fault!” and Liam would still find a way to assume responsibility.

“I’m trying not to,” said Liam, still staring at the screen. His eyes weren’t moving so Drake knew he wasn’t reading. “I can’t help keep thinking that she is only in this predicament because I wanted a baby.”

“We _both_ did,” Drake reminded him. “If you’re going to blame you, you have to blame me too.”

Drake knew Liam never would. It was blatantly manipulative, and both he and Liam knew it. It still worked.

“You’re right. I know you’re right.”

Liam leaned back in his seat. Finding Drake’s hand on his shoulder, he laced their fingers together.

“I’m going to ask her to come back with us to the capital,” he said. “Soon, she wasn’t going to be able to travel, anyway. This way we’ll be able to help her during these last months.”

Riley agreed and a few days later, after finally being given the green light to leave, Liam was helping her and Maxwell settle into what had been her old room in the palace. Hana came with them too. She hadn’t left Riley’s side throughout the pregnancy. With the diagnosis, Hana turned into Riley’s personal nurse, helping Maxwell take daily blood pressure readings and keeping a neat, organized record of each and every one of Riley’s symptoms. 

As soon as the baby was born, Drake planned to get her something.

A less agreeable guest showed up at their door two days after Riley had moved back in.

“How have you been doing, Liam?” Olivia greeted him. “And Riley? As soon as I heard, I had to stop by to see you both.”

“We’re fine,” he said warmly. “Riley will be pleased to see you.”

“Of course, she will,” Olivia said with a self-assured smile. She barely spared Drake a glance. “Drake.”

“Olivia,” he answered just as brusquely.

“What are you even doing here?” he asked her later when they were left, for a moment, alone. “Did you run out of little children to scare in Lythikos?”

“I’m here to see my friend.” Olivia smiled at him, but it did nothing to set him at ease. Not that she had intended it to. “I understand how the concept might be difficult for you considering you don’t have friends.”

He scoffed. “Like you’re one to talk.”

“Riley herself invited me. Who asked for you?”

“I’m the father!”

“ _One_ of them,” she corrected. “Thankfully. I shudder to imagine what would have happened to that poor, innocent child with only you for her parent.”

Further sniping was put on hold after Riley spotted Olivia. She threw her arms around the other woman tightly, an impressive feat considering her stomach had become a true obstacle. To Drake’s surprise, Olivia returned the hug just as sincerely.

Drake made his peace with her presence, reasoning that, since Olivia had been invited, she was unlikely to place a curse on their baby when she was born.

Having everyone in the palace again, Olivia included, felt like getting the family together. 

Liam and Hana collaborated on a project for the gardens while Drake snatched the headphones Maxwell put on Riley’s stomach. (“The baby loves Clean Bandit! Classical for her development and dance-pop so she can move!”) 

Riley was under strict instructions to take it easy, but she could still be spotted anywhere in the palace. One day, Drake found her in the nursery, examining the baby books arrayed on a shelf.

“This might be the first baby to have a full library before she’s born,” she commented. 

“You should have been here a month ago. Liam has been obsessively organizing the books.”

“Ah, so the labels?”

“He settled for UDC because, according to him, it works for books, music and, when she grows older, movies. I also threatened to move out if he tried to reorganize one more time.”

She laughed and Drake grinned. Riley suddenly made a face. Her hand pressed into her side.

“Are you okay?” Drake stepped toward her. “What is it?”

“Mm. Baby’s in my kidney.” Opening her eyes, she looked down at her stomach. “I need that, you know.”

He had felt the baby moving before. During one of their visits, when Riley was still six months along, he and Liam had spent an afternoon with their hands on Riley’s belly, talking to the baby, trying to encourage her to move again. Their efforts had paid off when they felt a swift strike.

In the present, his eyes immediately dropped to the swell of her stomach under her dress.

“Can I—”

Riley rolled her eyes. “You’re the dad. You can grab if you want. It’s everyone else that needs permission.”

She took his hand and placed it where her hand had been.

“Feel that? That bump?” At his nod, she said, “That’s her head. You can actually see the skin stretching out when she does it. It’s really freaky.”

Drake could only focus on one part of that.

“I’m touching her head?”

“You’re technically touching me, but yeah. She feels it.”

Leaving her hand on his, Riley guided his movement in a circular massage. After a moment, he felt the bump move.

“Oh, my God.”

He had both hands on Riley’s stomach before he was aware of it. The baby continued to move for a few more seconds before she settled.

“You’re going to the best damn defense this country has ever seen,” Drake told the baby.

Riley laughed again. Her look was tender. Drake looked up at her.

“What does it feel like to you?”

“It’s…I can’t think of a word.” She shook her head. “I’m not gonna miss being pregnant. Especially with all this. But…I’m gonna miss this little girl. I’ve gotten used to carrying her around everywhere.”

“You know you’ll always be her family.” He gently chucked Riley’s chin. “You’ll always be our family.”

She smacked his arm.

“God, Drake, why would you say that?” she complained through her sudden tears. “I’m pregnant. I cry about everything!”

Laughing at her, Drake kissed the the top of her head. When he hugged her, her stomach pushed at him. He laid a hand atop it. _I love you,_ he thought to the little person inside.

He didn’t believe in signs. But he did believe the little answering kick he felt against his palm.

* * *

Drake scowled when he came across Olivia at Riley’s door.

“What do you want?”

“Same thing you were planning,” she said tersely with a pointed look at the tray he was holding. She held another one.

Maxwell had driven out the day before to Ramsford to help Bertrand with something or other. He was typically the one to fetch Riley’s breakfast. As he hadn’t arrived yet, Drake had taken the task upon himself.

“Well, I have it covered so you can leave.”

In answer, Olivia shoved past him to push the door open.

“Hey!”

“I brought you something to eat,” Olivia proudly declared. “A Lythikos specialty to give the baby strength.”

Drake followed her.

“I brought something _healthy_ that is actually _safe_ to eat.”

They glared at one another.

“I can’t see,” said Riley. She was covering her eyes with her hands.

“You know you’re covering your eyes, right?” Drake asked her. From the look on her face, Olivia had been about to ask the same thing.

“No. I mean, I can’t _see_.” Riley lowered her hand. Her left eye was closed. She opened it and closed it again. “I can only see out of this eye. My right is black.

“Can you get my blood pressure monitor?” she continued as if waking up blind in one eye was a regular occurrence. “It should be on the table.”

Breakfast was abandoned. Drake grabbed the monitor, but first he failed to check that the cuff was empty of air and then he slid it up her arm upside down.

“Give me that!” 

Olivia elbowed him out of the way. She snatched the cuff from him and correctly wrapped it around Riley’s arm. They waited in a nervous silence as the cuff swelled, and until the machine beeped the result.

Drake felt a cold stab of fear down his spine. Olivia’s eyes were wide. Riley peered up at them with her good eye.

“What’s it say?”

“A hundred eighty.”

“Okay.” Riley still had that unnatural calm. “Olivia, can you help me dress? And Drake, I’m going to need a car to take me to the hospital.”

* * *

The ride to the hospital had been tense and not just because Drake had been forced to sit next to Olivia.

The process of getting Riley out of the palace and to the hospital had been chaotic. Drake found himself almost grateful for Olivia’s presence. Her single-minded focus and willingness to call an idiot an idiot had proven extremely helpful. Not that he would ever admit that out loud even under torture.

Riley’s vision had returned and it had brought its friend, killer headache, along. It refused to go away so the doctor had ordered she keep a blood pressure cuff wrapped around her arm. It swelled up at periodic intervals and pissed her off every time. That its timing was accurate to when she was _just_ beginning to doze off was almost certainly playing a role.

A belt was wrapped around her stomach. Drake watched the regular spikes of the baby’s heartbeat on the monitor. Weirdly, it calmed him. The spikes meant the baby was fine.

Maxwell had been located and almost panicked over the phone. Liam had been harder to reach, but he too had sworn to arrive soon.

Riley greeted each new arrival by waving at them with one IV and tape covered hand.

“Steroids,” she said, fixing the plastic tubing lying on the bed. “No Olympics for me.”

“You’d win,” Maxwell cheered her.

“And get my medal taken away for doping. No, thank you.”

“I’d make sure it got back to you,” promised Liam.

“See, this is why it pays to be friends with the boss,” she informed the others in the room.

They had to wait twenty-four hours between the corticosteroid injections. The question of inducing labor versus waiting had been resolved: the baby had to be born. All that was left to do was give her a boost so that she could have an easier time when she had to fend for herself.

After the second injection had been given, the doctor came in to check on Riley and the baby.

“Ready?” he asked.

Riley nodded. Maxwell let go of one of her hands; Liam let go of the other. She flashed them all a peace sign as she was being wheeled out. 

And then the truly torturous waiting began.

Hana poured them all coffee from a thermos, then began fixing a receiving blanket between her fingers. Maxwell went from pacing the length of the waiting area to sitting apart from the rest, his knee bouncing. Olivia had posted herself by the entrance almost like one of their guards, her glare sending any overly-curious hospital staff running. Liam sat stiffly looking as if he had been carved from stone. Drake clenched his hands in front of him before he actively started tearing at his hair.

What felt like an eternity later, but in reality had not even been two hours, two doctors approached them.

One was Riley’s obstetrician, who told them the surgery went well and Riley had been moved to recovery. The other doctor introduced herself as a neonatologist. When she smiled, Drake felt himself breathe again. 

“The princess is waiting to meet you.”

* * *

The NICU was a bright, clinical space. The soft colors of the walls and the playful animals decorating the sheets or prancing across plastic in sticker form could not distract from the amount of machines in the room, the beeps of monitors or the sight of the babies, some of them impossibly small, covered in wires, tubes and patches. 

Drake’s hand instinctively found Liam’s. Liam gripped him just as tightly.

Trying to keep his thoughts from running away from him, Drake focused on the neonatologist’s back. She stopped beside an open incubator.

And there she was.

She was tiny, weighing as much as a dream. Under a cap of jet-black hair, her large grey eyes were surprisingly alert. She regarded her surroundings with a profound solemnity as if she knew already she was heir to a king. After Liam finally handed her to Drake (without letting go of one of her diminutive hands), she did not look away from his face.

“Hi, baby girl,” Drake whispered. “Hi, Natalie.”

He tore his eyes away from her long enough to find Liam. His husband had an expression caught between ecstatic joy and utter terror that Drake was certain was a mirror of his.

“She’s here,” said Liam. He gently stroked one silken cheek, and Natalie turned her head to find him. “Look at you.”

Their daughter clutched one of Liam’s fingers tight. Drake was taken by every little action she made. Her mouth opened in a perfect little ‘o’ when she yawned. The long, dark eyelashes brushed her cheeks like the delicate sweep of a fan when she blinked. Her little hand opening was like seeing the sunrise, her fingers stretching upward like rays. 

Drake touched his forehead to Liam’s, their daughter a warm bundle between them.

She was here. She was here.

* * *

Riley looked pale and exhausted against the pristine white sheets. Maxwell sat in a chair in front of her, tenderly stroking her hair away from her face. It was Riley who first noticed Drake’s entrance with Maxwell following the line of her sight a second later.

“The prince consort deigns to walk among the plebs,” she joked.

“I think we’re all way past plebs, Brooks.”

Maxwell got up.

“I’ll give you guys a minute.” 

Before he left, Maxwell grabbed Drake in a hug.

“Congratulations!”

Drake returned it as fiercely.

“Told you,” Riley breathed when they were alone and Drake had settled into Maxwell’s vacated chair.

“Told me what?”

“Thirty-five weeks exact,” she said with a tired smile. “I told you I’d make it.”

Drake laughed, a short, almost strangled sound of relief.

“Yeah, Brooks. You did. You’re really something else.”

“How is she?”

“She’s—” Drake tried to summon an adequate description, but nothing came close. He shook his head, voice quiet with awe. “She’s everything. She’s perfect.” 

He turned his head. Riley was searching his face. Taking her hand, he stroked her knuckles. He could feel his cheeks stretching from his grin. He suspected he’d be smiling like an idiot for the near future.

“She’s little, but she’s healthy,” he explained. “Doctor said she’ll have to stay here for a bit, make sure she can eat and all that. But she’s fine. She’s a little fighter.”

“I better be her favorite aunt after all this. Tell Savannah I’m sorry except I’m not.”

Drake laughed again, solidly now. 

“It’s no contest,” he reassured her. “How are you feeling?”

“You know. Like I just got cut open and had a five pound pineapple removed.” She looked down her body at her covered feet. “I’m pretty sure I can feel all my toes again, and that’s my second biggest accomplishment for today.”

Drake felt a lump form in his throat. He could never have predicted this: that the story that started in a bar in New York ended with a lifelong friend…and, thanks to her, with the most beautiful baby girl. 

Swallowing roughly, he clasped the hand without an IV between both of his.

“Riley—”

“I know, Drake,” she interrupted him quietly. And suddenly no words were necessary. She smiled at him and he smiled in return.

Standing up, he bent over Riley to kiss her brow.

“Get some rest, okay? Liam and I will be by to see you later.”

He passed Maxwell at the door. Before he left, Drake looked back. Maxwell had climbed into the bed with Riley. He held her wordlessly. Her body shook as she cried.

* * *

They brought Natalie home a week later. The streets from the hospital to the palace were lined with cheering crowds. At the palace, another crowd waited, Regina at its head. She was all but beaming with affection and pride when Liam set Natalie in her arms.

Her Royal Highness, Princess Natalie Alexandra of Cordonia immediately carved a place for herself in everyone’s hearts. Upon uploading, her official portrait became the most liked in the history of the royal family’s Pictagram account. More than once, Drake caught the servants cooing quietly over her crib while they did their rounds and even the guards couldn’t fully hide smiles when either he or Liam walked through the halls with her.

She somehow became more beautiful with each passing week. Her cheeks had grown rounder, she had more color, and Drake remained fascinated by her big, grey eyes. 

(He was fascinated by all of her, really. He could spend hours—and had spent them—watching her do anything at all: suck on her pacifier, stare at her mobile, sleep. Liam liked to tease him for it, but he was exactly the same.)

Liam took to fatherhood like he had been born to it. They had staff to help them with their daughter, but Liam insisted on taking care of her himself as much as possible. It warmed Drake’s heart to see them together: Liam feeding baby Natalie, rocking her, singing to her, bathing her and dressing her. He even handled the less agreeable tasks such as getting spit up on and multiple diaper changes with aplomb.

As much as Drake loved to watch them together, he loved being able to hold his daughter more. More than once, he simply plucked Natalie from Liam’s hold only for Liam to soon return the favor. 

Nor were the parents the only ones fighting for time with their daughter. The families were too, as were their friends. Hana often played the piano to entertain the little princess; Olivia’s expression was the softest Drake had ever seen from her as she gently rocked the baby to the music.

When Leo dropped by with gifts to meet her about two weeks after her birth, Drake swallowed his distaste and accepted his congratulations, though he was quick to steal Natalie back as soon as possible.

Rather than return immediately to Valtoria, Riley stayed a few weeks with them. After she was discharged from the hospital, she received a hero’s welcome. Drake and Liam greeted her, Natalie at Liam’s shoulder. As soon as Riley cradled the baby against her chest, Natalie seemed to fall under a spell.

“She remembers you.” Liam smiled. 

Riley kissed the baby’s hand, then her forehead. “I remember you too, beautiful.”

Still overemotional from the pregnancy, she started crying as soon as Liam told her of their wish to name her and Maxwell as Natalie’s godparents. Maxwell, with no excuse, sobbed and then sobbed harder when Liam mentioned that it had been Drake’s idea. 

The days were long and exhausting and the happiest Drake had known. But his happiest moments came in the evenings. 

About a month after Natalie’s birth, he slipped out of the bathroom, showered and in his most comfortable (and rattiest) t-shirt and sleep pants, to what had become a familiar sight.

Liam sat against the headboard wearing nothing except pajama pants. Natalie, in a diaper, lay against his bare chest. Her hair had acquired a hint of a curl in the past weeks, an inheritance from her biological mother. It stuck up no matter how often they smoothed it down. Liam was singing quietly to her lullabies learned from his own mother.

As Drake watched his husband and his daughter, his heart felt painfully tight. But it was a good ache, one he wouldn’t trade for anything in this world.

When Liam looked at him, it was with that same love in his eyes and Drake could have sworn he felt himself falling in love all over again.

They had a lifetime to fall in love again and again.

“What?” asked Liam. 

Drake shook his head.

Settling in at Liam’s side, Drake kissed him. Then he bent forward to kiss the baby’s cheek, her head, her hand.

“I love you,” he whispered to her.

He felt Liam drop a kiss on his hair when Drake pillowed his head on Liam’s shoulder. Their hands rested lightly together over the baby’s back.


End file.
